[Sean-h]

At least the domain is, but I'll only give them $100 for it, because that's about all I think it's worth. It's been for sale for years now for '6 figure offers only'. I still have access to my @ Snowboard.com email, but I stopped actively using it years ago until I know what's happening with the domain, so I would buy it just for email as I've had that address for 20 years now, my second ever. I still actively use my first Yahoo! address, 22 years and counting.

I have to wonder, what justifies the massive prices some people charge for domains? And I mean domains, not actual websites. Whatever the current owners paid Rick for it didn't help them diddly squat as they too crashed and burned, within a year I think. A valiant effort, I even won a very nice 32 jacket from them, but I think there is just too much snowboard related competition out there now, including this site. I am very curious as to what anyone thinks they can do with snowboard.com

Btw, any ex-members of the late, great original snowboard.com still here? And to this day my ever burning question; what happened to all the content? Why didn't Rick just sell the entire site? That might have actually been worth something. He also wants $200k for the domain colonies.com....what's it been, some 15+ years? Good luck with that.

 

[Board Doctor]

I guess the address could potentially make a lot of money for a business… be it a snowboard company or social media.

 

[Sean-h]

I guess the address could potentially make a lot of money for a business… be it a snowboard company or social media.

Like I said though, it didn’t for the last guys who tried. A nice enough attempt, but from one day to the next, they went down, and stayed down. Basically, it’s the content and not a domain that makes a website. Anyone is welcome to try convince me otherwise.

The original sb.com was more than just snowboarding, it was a kind of social media, among other things. Who remembers the Hotties section?

 

[BurtonAvenger]

The last guys also had VC funding that they used to get drunk with. That story is kind of funny. I'd love to get that domain name.

 

[NT.Thunder]

I don't see the issue - people can list items for whatever price they want, it's only worth whatever someone is willing to pay.

 

[Sudden_Death]

I think that was the first real social media site I was on. Can't remember if I was on there before Myspace though. Think I still have a bunch of stickers and a hoodie.

 

[Sean-h]

I don't see the issue - people can list items for whatever price they want, it's only worth whatever someone is willing to pay.

Obviously it’s worth nothing as it’s been for sale now for the better part of 6 years for an exhorbitant price, yet no one bought it. Now it’s up for auction and I’ll be very curious to see what it goes for, assuming that info is made public, although if one really wants to know you can find these things out regardless.

To be clear, I don’t actually care what happens to it, there is no issue from my side because it’s just a domain name, so nothing special. The current owner is indeed entitled to ask what they want for it.

Guess I’m just feeling a little nostalgic as that was the first website I was a member of, and I was core for many years. I was way more active on there than I have ever been on fakebook and twatter, combined. No jokes. Hell, when I joined sb.com the 'server' was a single desktop tower standing on a beer crate in Joe's basement in Whistler. They eventually moved it to some dedicated racks in a Texas data centre, and that's when the problems seemed to have started. Dedicated racks are dangerous, if you don't know what you are doing. If those racks go down, what then? Now with cloud servers today you don't really have the excuses they used back then. Now you can 'simply' spin up another virtual instance pretty much anywhere within minutes and the show can continue.

But other sites have taken it’s place, the snowboarding world has moved on. I should too

 

[lbs123]

I'm not sure what they are asking for, but I don't think it's worth much. As you said, it's about content, so if there were an existing site, it would be different. Domain age could contribute to its authority, but according to Semrush, it has an authority score of 38, while, for example, Burton.com has 71. If you want a memorable domain name, you have plenty of options nowadays with new TLDs. snowboard.tips is for $220 a year, etc. The domain is no longer an issue; the harder part is building something meaningful on it.

 

[Sean-h]

I'm not sure what they are asking for, but I don't think it's worth much. As you said, it's about content, so if there were an existing site, it would be different. Domain age could contribute to its authority, but according to Semrush, it has an authority score of 38, while, for example, Burton.com has 71. If you want a memorable domain name, you have plenty of options nowadays with new TLDs. snowboard.tips is for $220 a year, etc. The domain is no longer an issue; the harder part is building something meaningful on it.

I think many years ago a domain name was important, when they were in short supply, you only had a handful of TLD's to choose from. But with things like SEO and +1500 TLD's and counting these days, not so much anymore. In other words, Google doesn't really care what your site name is, you are instead ranked for your content, unless you use a TLD like .xyz or .biz which don't have the best reps, and even then, you can get around that.

I've been building Wordpress blogs for going on 9 years now, so I speak from some experience. In turn, I have got some of the most useful information about all sorts of things from sites with some very obscure domain names, I barely pay attention to domains anymore.

Basically, I think it is a colossal waste of money to pay much more than the default rate for a domain. Then again, if Musk really thinks that cesspool known as twitter is worth $44bil, he can go right ahead, it's his money (mostly).

 

[Snowdaddy]

I've been building Wordpress blogs for going on 9 years now, so I speak from some experience. In turn, I have got some of the most useful information about all sorts of things from sites with some very obscure domain names, I barely pay attention to domains anymore.

If a name is already taken on another domain then using the same name isn't always a great idea, but I'd agree with the notion that domain names has become less valuable since you'd have to register in a million different places and trademarking domain names sounds like a bunch of no-fun.

Basically, I think it is a colossal waste of money to pay much more than the default rate for a domain. Then again, if Musk really thinks that cesspool known as twitter is worth $44bil, he can go right ahead, it's his money (mostly).

Well, Musk really paid for a large user base, advertisers and a huge staff full of knowhow. The whole idea of those kind of companies is to not make any money until you have a large enough user base and the technical knowhow to support them and implement payment models or connect more services. Right?

 

[Sean-h]

If a name is already taken on another domain then using the same name isn't always a great idea, but I'd agree with the notion that domain names has become less valuable since you'd have to register in a million different places and trademarking domain names sounds like a bunch of no-fun.



Well, Musk really paid for a large user base, advertisers and a huge staff full of knowhow. The whole idea of those kind of companies is to not make any money until you have a large enough user base and the technical knowhow to support them and implement payment models or connect more services. Right?

Right. And I think the original snowboard.com was on to something, what with tons of content and 10's of 1000's of very active concurrent users, which back in 2002 was a LOT for any website. If they had managed to continue the trend they were on, who knows what it would be like now. Luckily I still have the original photos I posted on there of my first ever snowboarding experience while working as a lifty at Waterville Valley NH. Originally from coastal South Africa, (yet I have never surfed) I did not go to the USA to snowboard, I just went as part of an official program to work on a ski resort, and I happened to discover snowboarding while there....

I've been keeping an eye on the domain of snowboard.com ever since its demise, and yes, I know it will never be what it was again, but I don't think there's any harm in reminiscing. I still snowboard to this day. My wife and I are going to work in the Austrian Alps again this winter 22/23....but she still needs to see the light, in the meantime, she skis, and I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with her. 20 years now since I saw the light I have yet to even step in to ski boots. Just watching people walk around in them makes me cringe....instead, I like the way snowboarders swagger.

Some of the photos that were part of my snowboard.com profile in 2002. Who here has tried snowboarding with a full size 35mm SLR camera and not break it? No, I don't have any action shots of myself. First photo: I somehow often had the best powder days on my days off, which were Mondays and Tuesdays, so the quietest days We had about half of Boston over the weekends.

Oh, Waterville Valley Resort is still there. I have been watching them too. I plan to make a pilgrimage back there one day soon. That quad you see has since been demolished after some 40 odd years of service and has just been replaced by a brand new high speed 6 seater, apparently ready for the upcoming 22/23 season.

Toughest job I've ever had. And it paid $7/hour, in 2002, tax free. I finished the season with some good coin left over, even after all the parties.

 

[Etienne]

Domain are basically worth the traffic they have already. Like Amazon.com (nytimes.com, whatever...) is worth a lot because of you could Instantably draw thousands/millions of users, which can be lucrative in a way or another.

Without traffic for half a decade, the domain is worth nothing beyond someone who want @Snowboard.com in his mail.

Envoyé de mon H8324 en utilisant Tapatalk

 

[BurtonAvenger]

I think I offended the seller with my offer. Dude wasn't stoked.

"
Your comments are not only incorrect but somewhat offending to the long history of the snowboard.com brand.

If you were a past user, you can understand the value - your bid is almost a thousandth of our highest offer."

If someone is offering 6 figures for it, I'd say take it bud. But if you're responding on Thanksgiving 5 minutes after I make an offer and offended, it tells me no one has made a real offer on it.

 

[Paxford]

Game on.

 

[Donutz]

I was never a member on snowboard.com, but I was on snowboarding.com, which also went under and seems to be available.

If I was Burton or Rome or some other snowboard company, I'd buy snowboard.com and have it redirect to my main site (but not for 6 figures, FFS). But snowboarding.com makes more sense as a forum. In fact, if the bid isn't too high, maybe verticalscope should buy it and point it here.

 

[Revvi]

The-house made a good play buying snowboards.com

I just remember them doing dogshit 40 second reviews on YouTube… but still drives some traffic from people searching YT for board info…which can now turn into sales for the House.

But People holding onto domain names like they’re worth a lot of money are living in the 2000s.

even Basketball.com is up for sale. (Football.com non existent)
Don’t think modern internet users just types a topic +.com and hopes for the best anymore.

 

[Manicmouse]

I think I offended the seller with my offer. Dude wasn't stoked.

"
Your comments are not only incorrect but somewhat offending to the long history of the snowboard.com brand.

If you were a past user, you can understand the value - your bid is almost a thousandth of our highest offer."

If someone is offering 6 figures for it, I'd say take it bud. But if you're responding on Thanksgiving 5 minutes after I make an offer and offended, it tells me no one has made a real offer on it.

At this point submit a lower offer, when that gets rejected, submit yet another lower offer pointing out that you won't go back to your previous offer values.

 

[Manicmouse]

I was never a member on snowboard.com, but I was on snowboarding.com, which also went under and seems to be available.

I recall having an email address on snowboarding.com way back in the late 90s!

 

[Sean-h]

The-house made a good play buying snowboards.com

I just remember them doing dogshit 40 second reviews on YouTube… but still drives some traffic from people searching YT for board info…which can now turn into sales for the House.

But People holding onto domain names like they’re worth a lot of money are living in the 2000s.

even Basketball.com is up for sale. (Football.com non existent)
Don’t think modern internet users just types a topic +.com and hopes for the best anymore.

That's exactly how I found snowboard.com It was several months after I finished my season at Waterville in 2002 and I was pining for some snow again. Back in Durban, South Africa, on dial up, I wasn't going to get any any real time soon. So not knowing how to use a search engine, as Google/Yahoo/MSN etc were only just getting started, I simply typed in snowboard.com, and there it was. It then kept my love, read obsession with snowboarding alive until I managed to ride again, on Mt Washington, Vancouver Island about the same time it (snowboard.com) was taking its dying breaths some 6 years later. My avatar was taken at Mt Wash.

Since then I now live in Belgium, and while it is a pancake flat country, its not more than a days drive to any number of world class mountains in France, Austria and Switzerland. So no, I don't really need a website like that anymore, other than to spam you guys with gratuitous beer photos at apré ski bars.

I think I offended the seller with my offer. Dude wasn't stoked.

"
Your comments are not only incorrect but somewhat offending to the long history of the snowboard.com brand.

If you were a past user, you can understand the value - your bid is almost a thousandth of our highest offer."

If someone is offering 6 figures for it, I'd say take it bud. But if you're responding on Thanksgiving 5 minutes after I make an offer and offended, it tells me no one has made a real offer on it.

That bit about your offer insulting the long history of the snowboard.com brand, I had to laugh. The brand as we knew it barely lasted 10 years, and then died a long time ago. Get over it dude, and flog that domain off. Thing is, it's probably the second owner that realises it was a mistake to pay Rick the original owner what he paid for it, and now he wants his money back....good luck with that.

There is just too much competition out there now, while back then there was zero, no fakebook, twitter, nothing, they were sitting on a gold mine, and then blew it all away on F250's with double tires, etc etc. Yes, they posted pics of these things. But of course, I'm just theorising as I don't think the real reason behind it's demise will ever be widely known.

I was a past user, for many years, and am still well aware of the value of it as a website, back then. Apart from a massive user base, they also had a great shop where I bought hoodies, stickers and many, many movies, on VHS. First one was Afterbang by Robotfood.

Even back then I somehow figured out how to order stuff from a Canadian web shop with US$ and have it sent to Africa. I still have all the tapes, but they don't play so good anymore. Thankfully others have better copies of all the classics like that which are now on YouTube.

 

[Sean-h]

Just found this. Are they completely and utterly insane? At least is anyone dumb enough to pay that?